Something Wonderful

A couple in Australia who have been married for two years experienced a heartwarming Christmas in Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Last year, in early December, Victoria Millar had an MRI to determine why she had been suffering with bad migraines that were waking her from her sleep. The results revealed she had a 6 centimeter tangled mesh of abnormal blood vessels connecting arteries to veins in the brain known as an arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

AVMs form accidentally prior to birth and can form almost anywhere in the brain, brainstem, or spinal cord, but they are most common in the main cerebral hemispheres.  An AVM near or on the outer surface of the brain can cause bleeding and damage to brain tissues and may be fatal or disabling.

On November 14th, she had brain surgery to remove the AVM, but the surgery took longer than expected.  After 20 hours in the operating room Victoria was moved to the recovery room.  A scant 20 minutes later her brain began to hemorrhage, and she was rushed back into the operating room.  The doctors worked on her for six more hours but decided to stop when they realized they were “doing more damage than good.”

Her husband Richard was told the next morning that Victoria would not make it through the day.  The doctors said she might live about two more hours and he needed to “call the family to say their goodbyes.”

Victoria defied the odds.  She was placed in a medically induced coma for a couple of weeks and has steadily improved.  She is still unable to speak due to her tracheotomy but is able to communicate in writing.  The thing she’d been asking for was to see her three dogs Marlin, Jackson and Rosie.

“Vic's everything is animals. Her dogs are her babies until we have real babies,' her husband said. 

On Christmas Day, Richard brought the beloved dogs to the hospital to see his wife.  The hospital staff orchestrated the visit.  Victoria was given the best Christmas present ever when she was wheeled outside to greet them.